Clades:
Araceae;
Arales;
Aridae;
Lilianae;
Angiospermae;
Plants;
Kingdoms.
Genus: ± 100 species.
Region: tropical Africa, Malesia, Australasia, Western Pacific.
Habitat: prefers mostly sun and shade, regular water; well-drained soil.
Ecology: verticillium wilt resistant.
Uses: container plant, houseplant, tropical-looking, year round interest
BotanyType: climber; robust; evergreen; hemiepiphytes.
Stem: bast fibers, with abundant, long, slender trichosclereids, merging with the fibers of the sclerenchyma.
Leave: green; glossy; entire; pinnatifid to pinnatisect; venation is parallel, pinnate (one mid-vein with smaller veins branching off laterally) to reticulate (feather-veined); paddle shaped; broadleaf, large, 30 cm long, ± 5 12 cm wide; rippled veins; tend to fall off the base of the old vines as it continues to climb; torn leaf show many hairs; stalks bend abruptly at their top. The leaf margin is
Flowers: yellow; bisexual, lacking a perianth; blooms in summer; spathe is shed after flowering; 8 or more ovules, superposed on two (rarely 3) parietal placentas of the ovary.
Seeds: many; ellipsoid; straight; brittle and smooth outer coat, testa.